Aggressive Behavior in Olive Fruit Fly Females Ov

Authors: Giovanni Benelli Angelo Canale

Publish Date: 2016/11/14

Volume: 29, Issue: 6, Pages: 680-688

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Abstract

Among Tephritidae flies the females display agonistic behavior to maintain single oviposition sites and reduce larval competition for food In the olive fruit fly Bactrocera oleae femalefemale aggressive interactions are characterized by reciprocal wing waving chasing head butting and boxing with forelegs Little is known on tephritid aggressive behaviors directed towards natural enemies with special reference to parasitoids attacking their young instars In this study we quantified the aggressive behavior of B oleae females guarding their oviposition site against the braconid parasitoid Psyttalia concolor The fly aggressive behavior displayed against the parasitoids was compared that directed towards paper dummies mimicking P concolor adults When a P concolor female came close 20 mm to a B oleae female guarding the oviposition site the 9167 of the flies displayed wingwaving the 6334 chased the parasitoid the 45 showed headbutting while boxing was observed only in the 2667 of the aggressions When paper dummies were tested only the 6667 of the flies displayed wingwaving the 833 performed chasing followed by head butting 500 and boxing 333 B oleae displayed longer aggression bouts towards live wasps over dummies Overall this is the first evidence pointing out that tephritid aggressive acts besides their role in intraspecific interactions were also highly effective to displace parasitic wasps from the fly oviposition site Further research on potential consequences on fitness traits arising from the abovediscussed behaviors as well as on parasitoid learningmediated responses to tephritid aggressions is urgently requiredWe would like to thank Russell H Messing University of Hawaii USA for critical discussions on the topic of this study G Benelli is supported by PROAPI PRAF 2015 and University of Pisa Department of Agriculture Food and Environment Grant ID COFIN2015 22 Funders had no role in the study design data collection and analysis decision to publish or preparation of the manuscript

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